Fruit-grader



(No Model.) S.-MOGARVIN.

FRUIT GRADER.

No. 578,067. Patented Mar. 2, 1897'.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SMITH MOGARVIN, OF SAN J OSE, CALIFORNIA.

FRUlT-GRADER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,067, dated March 2, 1897.

Application filed October 13,1896. Serial No. 608,721. (No model.)

I To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SMITH MOGARVIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at San J os, county of Santa Clara, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Fruit- Graders; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to an improved fruitgrader. It is especially adapted for prunes and other fruits which may be of different sizes and which it is desirable to separate so as to put the various sizes up in different slotted or wire screen B, which serves to separate dirt, leaves, sticks, and other rubbish from the fruit.

In the present case I describe the apparatus as used for a prune-grader. The prunes having passed over the screen B, which will allow none of them to fall through, are delivered next upon the screen 0. This screen is formed, preferably, with holes in a sheet of zinc, the holes being of such size that only the largest and finest fruit will pass over the screen and be delivered at the lower end. The next screen below is constructed similarly to the screen 0, with perforations somewhat smaller, and so on to the bottom of the apparatus.

The number of screens used may vary and will depend upon the number of grades into which it may be desired to separate the fruit.

The screens may be all fixed in a single frame, which frame may be supported within the main frame A and oscillated by means of the crank and the crank-shaft to which power is applied.

In the present case I have shown the screens so mounted that each alternate screen, from top to bottom, is supported in one frame D,

-While the other alternate screens-are supported in a frame D. These two frames are so constructed as to lie within the main frame, and each of them is supported by spring-arms E, the lower ends of which are fixed upon the uprights of the main frame A. The upper ends of these springs are bent away from the frame-timbers to which they are fixed so as to stand at an angle which may be approximately about thirty-fivedegrees from the vertical post. The upper ends of these springs have loops or eyes formed in them, as shown at e, andthese loops fit upon pivot-pins fixed in the frames D and D. The springs supporting the frame D are bent toward that frame, while the springs supporting the frame D arecorrespondingly bent in the opposite direction, as shown.

Pitmen F and Fconnect the frames D and D, respectively, with cranks G, formed on the crank-shaft H, and when power is applied to this shaft each of the vertical frames D and D is oscillated in opposite directions. By thus supporting one half of the screens so as to move in the opposite direction from the other half it will be seen that the machine is balanced so that a rapid oscillation of the screens may be produced without affecting the steadiness of the framework or subjecting it to undue jar and oscillation. In addition to this, by reason of the angular arrangement of the springs E, the return movement of the screens is also a lifting movement which thus acts to toss the fruit upon the surface of the screens and aid in its separation. In addition to this the springs also serve as a counterbalance, so that when the frames have been drawn outward and downward by the action .of the crank in one direction the springs resisting this pull serve to raise and carry the screen-frames back in the opposite direction without throwing a great strain upon the cranks and pitmen, the machine thus runn'ing very easily and with but small'amount of power.

Thescreens which incline in one direction discharge the larger fruit which will not pass through them over the lower ends of the screens, while the fruit which has fallen through is received upon the closed floor I beneath the screens 0 and is conveyed by it to an opening J, through which the fruit falls upon the upper end of the inclined screen next below, where a similar operation takes place. These screens may be made in sizes suitable for the work tobe done. ,In prune grading they are frequently made as wide as four or five feet, and in order to properly discharge the various grades into the boxes in which they are packed for shipment I have shown inclined hoppers K at the lower and discharge ends of each of the screens C, and the fruit which passes over the ends of the screens falls into these hoppers, which converge from the sides toward the center until at the bottom they have a width approximately equal to the length of the boxes into which the fruit is to be packed.

An opening is made in the outer side of the hopper and the spout L, projecting from this opening, delivers the fruit into the box heneath. For convenience in handling these boxes I have shown an gle-iron rails M, fixed upon projecting supports N, so that the rails extend transversely across the frame and are adapted to receive and support the fruitboxes which are placed upon them and each pushed forward to the center of the rails, where it remains until filled. After being filled it is easily drawn off over the opposite ends of the rails and'another box pushed into place, and so on as long as the work continues. By this construction I am enabled to at once pack the fruit into boxes for shipment, instead of delivering it after being graded into bins, from which it must afterward be placed in the shipping-boxes.

In small machines it is easy to supply the fruit to the upper screen by means of a re ceiving-hopper or other similar device, but in machines suitable for doing a large amount of work I find it preferable to employ an inclined elevator-belt 0, having upon it transverse slats P of suificient thickness to receive a line of prunes and raise them to the upper end of the machine.

At a convenient point near the bottom is fixed a triangularly-shaped receiving-hopper Q, the bottom of which approaches closely to the lower portion of the belt. In the bottom of this hopper I fix a flexible sheet R, which extends from end to end, the length of the hopper being equal to the width of the belt. The edge of the sheet against which the belt and the slats P travel is free, so that as each slat passes up. from below the flexible sheet holds and allows it to pass, but immediately falls against the body of the belt below the slat and prevents any of the prunes falling down. As each slat passes up through the prune-containing hopper the prunes will be lifted in rows extending the whole length of the slat, and as each slat carries up a single row of prunes the latter will be delivered constantly and evenly upon the uppermost shaking-screen, so that this apparatus serves as a distributer and makes an even supply upon the screens.

Power to operate the elevator may be conveyed from the main or crank shaft by means of pulleys, as shown. In some cases where large machines are used I have found it convenient to employ a fan-blower, as shown at S, which is also driven from the crank-shaft and which furnishes a blast of air that is delivered along the first screen B, so as to assist in cleaning the prunes before they pass upon the actual grading-screens.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. The combination in a f ruit-grader of a series of superposed oppositely-inclined screens having perforations of diminishing diameter from top to bottom, parallel receiving-floors beneath each screen, means for discharging from each of said floors to the screen next below, means for discharging from the lower ends of each of the screens into receivingboxes, and oppositely-oscillating frames, at each end of the screens, to which the screens are connected alternately, so that those inclining in one direction will be carried. by one frame, and those in the opposite direction by the other.

2. The combination in a fruit-grader of a series of superposed oppositely-inclined screens with perforations of gradually-diminishing size from the upper to the lowermost, a slotted extension from the upper end of the topmost screen, for the separation of leaves and dirt, floors parallel with and below each of the screens to receive the fruit which passes through, having openings at the lower end by which said fruit is delivered upon the upper end of each succeeding screen, a concentrating discharge into which the fruit delivered from the upper surfaces of the screens is received and conveyed to boxes,vertical frames, at each end of the screens,to which the screens are alternately attached, a shaft with oppositely-placed cranks and pitmen connecting with the frames whereby the series of screens are oscillated in opposite directions, and springs connecting each frame with an intermediate fixed support, by which the frames are supported and given an upward and return movement.

3. The combination in a fruit-grader of a series of superposed,oppositely-inclined screens and conveying-floors, spaced frames in which said screens are mounted, spring-arms having one end fixed to a main frame intermediate of the spaced frames, and the upper end bent at an angle therewith and connected with the frames carrying the screens, cranks by which the screen-carrying frames are oscillated, said springs acting in conjunction therewith to allow the frames and screens to be drawn downward when moved in one direction, and thrown upward and counterbalanced when moved in the opposite direction.

4. The combination, in a fruit-grader, of a series of superposed oppositely-inclined screens having perforations decreasing in diameter from the top downward, each of said screens having a concentrating trough or hopper with Walls converging from the sides toward the center, and a centrally-disposed dischargeopening,receiving and directing floors for said screens, a fixed frame,vertical frames, at each end of the screens, to which the latter are alternately connected ,means for oscillating said screens and springs connected with the fixed and movable frames, and having outwardlyturned ends to produce a diagonal motion and return of the screens to the normal position.

5. An improved fruit-grader consisting of a fixed frame, a series of superposed oppositely-inclined and independently-oscillating screens having receiving and directing floors,

each of said screens having a-concentratingand imparting a diagonal motion and return of the screens, means for oscillating the screens, a supply and distributing belt having transverse slats and a receiving-hopper having a flexible bottom with a free edge adapted to yield as the slats pass it.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand. v

SMITH MCGARVIN.

Witnesses:

T. O. BARNETT, L. CUNNINGHAM. 

